Railway cross-tie.



F. N. & H. A. DRANB.

RAILWAY GROSS TIE.

APPLICATION FILED MAR. 1o, 1908.

904,944. y 1 Patented Nov. 24, 190s.

"FNV if, fag, Md

ATTOHNEYS- 'UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

FRANK N. DRANE AND HUGH A. DRANE, OF CORSICANA, TEXAS.

RAIL'WAY CROSS-TIE.

Specification of Letters atent.

Patented Nov. 24, 1908.

Application mea March 1o, 1908. serial No. 420,191.

To all whom "it may concern:

Be it known that we, FRANK il. Daarin and HUGH A. DnaNn, citizens of theUnited States, and residents of Corsicana, in thcl county of Navarro andState of Texas, have invented a new and Improved Railway Cross-Tie, ofwhich the following is a full, clear, and exact description.

The object of the invention is to provide a new and improved railwaycross tie, which is simple and durable in construction and provided withspaced concrete tie blocks, connected with each other by a metalliccross rod, extending centrally through the lie blocks, and having meansfor adjusting the tie blocks towards or from each other, to bring railsheld on the tie blocks to proper gage and to allow of raising either tieblock and maintaining both blocks and their rails in the same plane.

The invention consists of novel features and parts and combinations ofthe same, which will be more fully described hereinafter and thenpointed out in the claims.

A practical embodiment of the invention is represented in theaccompanying drawings forming a part of this specification, in whichsimilar characters of reference indicate corresponding parts in all theviews.

Figure l is a longitudinal elevation of the improvement and showing therails in cross section; Fig. 2 is a plan view of the same; Fig. 3 is anenlarged side elevation of one of the reinforced tie blocks, parts beingbroken out; Fig. 4f is a plan view of the same; Fig. 5 is a crosssection of the same, on the line 5 5 of Fig. 3; Fig. 6 is a crosssection of a modified form of the improvement; Fig. 7 is a plan view ofthe same, and Fig. 8 is an enlarged sectional elevation of one of therail clips, made eccentric and reversible, one side made deep enough tochamber the rail base and the other side made deep enough to chamber therail base and splice bar at rail joints.

rhe tie blocks A, A are made of concrete and placed suitable distancesapart, to support the rails B and B, and the said tie blocks A, A areprovided with apertures A2, passing centrally7 through the tie blocks inthe direction of their length, to receive a metallic tie rod C,preferably made tubular, and having its ends threaded to receive nuts Cabutting against the outer ends of the tie blocks A and A. By thearrangement described the tie blocks A and A can be convenientlyadjusted towards or from each other, by sliding the same on the tie rodC, so as to bring the rails B and B to proper gage. Each of the tieblocks A, A is reinforced by the use of metallic bars D, ranging in thedirection of the length of the blocks, as plainly indicated in Figs. 3,il and 5.

ln order to fasten each of the rails B and B in position on thecorresponding tie block A or A, use is made of outer and inner railclips E and ll, held in place by bolts F, F, extending through apertures(ir, G formed in the eorresjmnding tie block A. or A, the heads of .thebolts F, F engaging metallic seais ll, AIl embedded in the materialofthe. eorrespomliug tie block A or A. llach of the rail clips isprovided with lips EL beveled at the under side lo [.)roperly tit thetop of the base of the railV B or B, and the top of the lip lil: issimilarly beveled, so as to provide sul'lieieut space for the passage ofthe splice bar Fr employed for connecting adjacent rails. lhe openings Gand G are arranged to permit the convenient insertion of the bolts F andF from below, and the openings Gr and the metallic seats H are elongatedin the direction of the length of the corresponding tie blocl A or A, topermit of adjusting the inner bolt F and the inner clip E, toaccommodate rails having bases of different width.

As shown in Figs. 6 and 7, the tie block AS is provided with openingsG2, G3 and seats H2, H3 for the heads of the outer and inner bolts F andF and in this case the opening G3 is arranged obliquely in the block A3,to allow of adjusting the inner bolt F and its clip F/ to suit railbases of different width. The metallic seats H2, Hs may be in the formof bars, slotted for the passage of the bolt, and having at their innerends depending arms H" (see Fig. 6) embedded. in the concrete materialof the tie block A3, so as to securely hold the metallic bearings H2 andH3 in position in the tie block. The arms H4 are preferably curvedaround corresponding reinforcing bars D, as indicated in Fig. 6.

From the foregoing it will be seen that the railway cross tie describedis very simple and durable in construction and composed of comparativelyfew parts, so as to reduce the cost of the tie to a minimum. It willalso be noticed that the tie blocks A and A can be readily adjustedtowards or from each other, to bring the rails B and B to and hold themat proper gage, and that by means of the longitudinal apertures G andG3, as shown in Figs. d and 7, this means of fastening the rail to thetie blocks readily adjusts or adapts itself to any width of rail base.It may also be noticed that if any part of this tie becomes damaged, asfor eX- ample, a tie block, the whole tie does not have to be discarded,but may be restored by merely the renewal of the damaged part. On curvesthe outer tie block can be readily raised, and in doing so the inner tieblock follows the plane of the outer tie block, as the two tie blocksare Connected with each other by the tie rod C. Thus the rails B and Bare maintained in the saine plane.

Having thus described our invention, We claim as new and desire tosecure by Letters Patent:

l. In combination, a railway cross tie and rail fasteners for fasteningthe rails in place on the said tie, each fastener comprising a. boltheld in the tie, and a reversible rail clip engaged by the said bolt andhaving a sidewise extending lip tapering at top and bottoni, one sidedeep enough to lit the rail base and the other side deep enough to fitthe rail base and splice bar at rail joints.

2. A railway cross tie, comprising spaced concrete tie blocks havingcentral apertures in the direction of the length of the tie, a tie rodextending through the said apertures and provided at its endswith nutsscrewing against the outer ends of the tie blocks to adjust the sametoward or'from each other, metallic bolt seats embedded in the said tieblocks, and bolts extending in the said tie blocks and having theirheads seated on the said bolt seats, the bolt for the inside rail clipbeing adjustable in its seat in the direction of the length of the tie,to accommodate rails having bases of different widths.

8. A railway cross tie comprising spaced connected concrete tic blocks,metallic bolt seats embedded in the tie blocks, and bolts extending inthe tie blocks, and having their heads seated on the said bolt seats,the bolt for the inside rail clip being adjustable in its seat, in thedirection of the length of the tie, to acconnnodate rails having basesof different widths.

ln testimony whereof we have signed our names to this specification inthe presence of two subscribing witnesses.

FRANK N. DRANE. HUGH A. DRANE.

lVitnesses W. J. CHENEY, R. N. ELLIOTT.

